Climate
modeling

My research
interest lies primarily in developing a better
understanding of the physical processes associated with
Earth’s climate through numerical models. In particular,
the interaction processes between the land surface and
the atmosphere; and the comprehensive representation of
land surface properties in regional modeling have been
the main aspects of my research.

Vegetation
biophysical processes regulate heat, moisture, carbon
and momentum exchanges between the land surface and the
lower troposphere, which in turn modulate weather
patterns and the climate. On the other hand, accurate
representation of surface characteristics such as
topography and land cover distribution, provided by
regional climate modeling systems, is essential to
obtaining realistic seasonal and long-term climate
simulations and predictions.

In my research,
I examine different aspects of dynamic downscaling
with regional models and land surface information on
seasonal climate simulations, including the impact of
spatial resolution of topography and land cover
distribution on simulation skills, the role of
vegetation biophysical processes on monsoon systems, and
the impact of burned areas on the regional climate.

De Sales, F. and Y. Xue (2011), Assessing the
dynamic-downscaling ability over South America using the
intensity-scale verification technique. International
Journal of Climatology, 31: 1205–1221. doi:
10.1002/joc.2139..